War of words continues between Prasa and former acting CEO Letsoalo
JOHANNESBURG – The war of words between former acting chief executive at the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa Collins Letsoalo and board members continued on Thursday with with him accusing them of lying, subterfuge and diversions.
The charge came after the Prasa board urged on Wednesday urged Letsoalo to report to police all the allegations of corruption and nepotism he has made via the media.
Letsoalo has accused former board members of collaborating against him and dismissing him after he allegedly uncovered top level corruption and nepotism at Prasa.
On Thursday Letsoalo said the latest Prasa’s statement did not address the pertinent issues he raised.
“The statement goes on to lie and give risible explanations that are both untrue but that is in my view expected. I’m dealing with this group and their fellow collaborators, because when you deal with them, you have to deal with subterfuge and diversions,” Letsoalo said.
“I wish to state for the record that there is nothing that I have said that I can’t back up with evidence and documents.”
Letsoalo was booted from Prasa in February 2017 for allegedly hiking his annual salary by 350 percent from R1.3 million a year to R5.9 million. But a court found that he was entitled to the new salary which matched that of his predecessor.
Letsoalo has threatened to sue Prasa and its former executives, together with Sunday Times newspaper, for R20 million in damages for loss of income and defamation.
The newspaper ran a story in June that the Auditor-General had compiled a report and asked Letsoalo to pay back the money he had “irregularly” earned while at Prasa, but it had to apologize to Letsoalo after the Auditor-General distanced himself from the report.
On Thursday Letsoalo said he would not be responding to any further statements “lest I trivialize my case and turn it into a spat”.
“We will meet in court under oath and set the record straight once and for all. Repeating a lie so many times never makes it the truth,” he added.
– African News Agency (ANA)
Source: iol.co.za
